All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Podium at Toronto (which, while involving a ton of really bizarre driving, turned into a compelling race): Hunter-Reay, Kimball, Conway.

Kimball finished second after being put into the tire barrier by his teammate Rahal earlier in the race.

1st time a Foyt car has been on the podium in ages. Dixon blew an engine, Franchitti & Briscoe took each other into the wall, Kanaan was in the top three until he had to save fuel late and finished 4th. 13 different teams in the top 14.

And, since my NASCAR friends like to b*@% about the lack of Americans in IndyCar, I'd have loved to have shown them the podium today had Newgarden not had a brain fart and put the car into the tire barrier trying to pass Pagenaud for 3rd (when Pagenaud didn't have enough fuel to make it to the finish anyway).

Alas, Hunter-Reay has now won three straight races. Nice to see a non-Penske/Ganassi pulling that, even though Andretti has been the third major team for some time, they've not been atop the championship standings since Franchitti in 2007.

 

A Foyt car on the podium on a street course just might be a sign of the apocalypse.

What I don't understand about Toronto is why they can't design a wider course. Exhibition Place is huge ... you'd think they could figure something out instead of the one-lane procession you get there.

 

Amazing how most IndyCar title contenders suffered bad luck/brain fades in the same race last Sunday. Castronever-gonna-win-a-title made his annual bonehead mistake by spinning Dixon on the FIRST lap of an 85-lap race. Dixon later hit the back of Hunter-Reay and needed a new front wing. RHR, running third late, gets taken out by Tagliani making a move with 0 percent chance of working out well. Later, RHR gets penalized for hitting another car. Meanwhile, Will Power's bad luck consists of losing the lead to teammate Ryan Briscoe and finishing second.
It's Power's title to lose at this point, but the bad luck roulette could easily be pointing to him either of the next two weeks (or both).

 

So Power (Penske) leads Hunter-Reay (Andretti) by 17 points heading into Saturday's IndyCar season finale. Meanwhile, rumors persist Penske is trying to hire Hunter-Reay to replace Briscoe in his third car for next year. I can't be the only one thinking it's just an attempt by Team Penske to distract RHR/Andretti, with no real intent to offer him the ride.

 

Interesting to see how many cars are on the track. Mike Conway already withdrew because of safety concerns (Foyt replaced him with Wade Cunningham), and now E.J. Viso is tweeting he won't race tonight if more downforce isn't put on the cars. Granted, not having E.J. Viso instantly makes any race safer, but you've gotta think there are more drivers who have worries.

 

Hunter-Reay responsed by re-upping with Andretti, so that takes that bullet out of the holster.

Would be interesting to see who takes the #2 car next year.

Tonight is going to be fun. Fontana & Michigan are the two most entertaining open-wheel tracks in the country besides Indianapolis, and IndyCar finally came to its senses, buried the hatchet with ISC and raced on one (although Michigan is slightly better than Fontana because it's not as high-banked).

 

So Will Power crashes and throws away the title while battling with RHR. Except he didn't necessarily. Hunter-Reay still has to finish fifth or better and he's been struggling all night; currently sixth with 45 laps to go. If the race ended now, Power wins the title by one point. Wow.

 

Ed Carpenter wins; RHR gets fourth and wins the title.

 

Team Penske, that is called karma for trying to create a distraction for the Andretti team.

 

Man, have I been asleep all year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who I think was looking for an actual ride back when I covered the series in Richmond, is the series champ? Sweet Jesus.

Almost makes me forgive him for marrying a Gordon. Almost.

 

Ed Carpenter won a race?

 

That seemed to be Ed Carpenter's reaction.